


Scars

by Eccentric_Reader



Series: I Will Follow You (To The End) [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:04:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27180118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eccentric_Reader/pseuds/Eccentric_Reader
Summary: Hermione and Bellatrix talk about scars.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Series: I Will Follow You (To The End) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981972
Comments: 6
Kudos: 172





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> This one isn't too nice- read the tags for triggers.

“What’s this from?”

Hermione shivered as she felt a finger trace a line down her back. “The battle. When Rodolphus tossed me into that wall, I think? I didn’t get it healed that day, it wasn’t that bad, but I got a scar out of it.”

A hand ran over the slight discoloration on her stomach and chest. “Department of Mysteries?”

“Mhm. What’s with the sudden interest in my scars?”

Bellatrix shifted behind her. “Just wondering. We haven’t- I mean, I haven’t really seen you since the battle.”

Hermione hummed in response as Bella continued tracing over some other scars. They were lying in their shared room (Hermione had long given up on her own room, seeing as she never used it, and had decided to just move in officially)- Bella had managed to get Hermione’s top off before Andy had pounded on the door, saying, “If you’re going to have sex, make sure we’re out of the room, you heathens!”

Needless to say, the mood had been killed. Hermione never did get that shirt back on, though.

She felt fingers dancing over her forearm, and she shivered- not in a good way this time. “Does it still hurt?”

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn’t had much time to process the- events at Malfoy Manor (between dealing with the aftermath of the war, helping with cleanup, and making sure Bella didn’t do anything stupid, she simply hadn’t had the time), but she could still feel the silver knife dragging over her arm.

“A bit. Fleur said it was cursed.”

“Mm. That’s his favorite knife. It’ll get better, just a little sore on colder days.”

Hermione stiffened, then turned to face Bella, who clearly regretted saying that. “I just mean- I did some research. On cursed knives. And I just happen to know that that’s his favorite one.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

Bella sighed. “Damn. You know me too well.”

“You happen to be a specialty of mine.” Bella gave her a sappy grin and leaned up to kiss her. After a moment, Hermione (very reluctantly) pulled away.

“You’re not going to be able to avoid this subject forever, you know.”

Bellatrix grumbled something about “don’t want to” and “bloody lucky I love you” before fiddling with the bottom of her shirt. “How about a Q and A? One where I don’t necessarily have to answer?”

Hermione pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Whatever you want.”

She leaned back a bit to let Bella get her shirt off (chuckling a bit when she, somehow, managed to get it tangled around herself), taking in the multitude of scars littering her body. 

Thinking back on it, she didn’t think she’d ever seen Bella fully naked before, at least from the top. Sure, they’d explored quite a lot back in the Room of Requirement, but it was always dark, and they’d never gotten too far, Hermione not interested in a repeat of the Tie Incident and Bella continuously getting flustered whenever there was an implicit sign that they would possibly need a bed (damn the room for always setting a too-perfect-mood).

Noticing that Bella looked slightly uncomfortable, Hermione leaned down to kiss her. “I love you.”

Arms tightened around her. “Love you too.”

Hermione’s fingers found a half-healed scar on her side. “You never got this healed?”

“Wasn’t too important. And don’t be a hypocrite, you didn’t go see a healer after the battle either.”

“Fair enough.” Her eyes fell to a couple of lines across her stomach. “These?”

“Slicing hex.”

She pulled her closer. “What did you do?”

Bella frowned. “Not sure. I think- it might’ve been Cissy. Cygnus was particularly angry that day, he yelled at her, she cried, and according to him, Blacks aren’t allowed to cry. I took the beating for her.”

Oh,  _ god _ . Hermione wasn’t sure she wanted to hear more- but now, the dam seemed to have broken, and Bella looked like she needed to get these things out, so Hermione brought up the image of Cygnus getting hit with a killing curse and let that bring her comfort.

A sudden thought crossed her mind, and even though she was sure she wouldn’t like the answer no matter what it was, she felt she had to ask anyway. “How old were you?”

She felt Bella shift in her arms. “I dunno. 7 or 8, I think.”

Hermione shuddered. Yes, she’d been right, she really shouldn’t have asked.

Almost against her will at this point, her hand found a collection of scars on her arm very closely resembling the one on her own arm. “And this?”

Bella sighed. “The knife, though I’m sure you’ve already guessed that. I’m not actually sure if I did anything to earn his ire- he might’ve just been in the mood to use it. Like I said, it was his favorite. And, hmm, that must’ve been… after Hogwarts, definitely. Winter break of second year, maybe?”

Hermione firmly pushed all of her own personal memories of the damn knife to the back of her mind (it was Bella’s turn to deal with trauma tonight, she could think about her own later) and let her fingers dance over the thin lines before turning to the worst part of it.

“I’m not sure I want to know about your back.”

“I can stop if you want.”

“Do you want to stop?”

A brief hesitation, and then, “No. No, I- this is good. To talk about things.” She took a deep breath. “He- he would whip me. Sometimes. Only really in more extreme situations, I don’t think it happened more than- 5 times? 4, maybe? But he wouldn’t let me heal it, so they always turned into scars. By far my least favorite punishment.”

At the mention of punishments, Hermione’s mind was suddenly cast back to her first year, when they had been basking in the glow of stopping Quirrell from getting the stone, and Bella had just  _ casually _ mentioned that her father routinely locked her up in her room for long periods of time. She asked about this, because she had always been too curious for her own good and this had been at the back of her mind for  _ years _ now. 

“Oh, that was never too bad. I mean, I never  _ enjoyed  _ it, and he took all of the books out so I had nothing to do for months and it was never entirely certain if I would get fed-”

“He didn’t  _ feed _ you? Now I’m almost mad that you killed him, I would’ve loved to do it-” She was cut off by the feeling of lips on her own. “What was that for?”

“Being a wonderful girlfriend.” She kissed her again. “And because I felt like it.”

Hermione pulled away after a while (as much as she loved kissing Bella) and pointed to another set of scars near her hips. “Are these knife marks too? They don’t look cursed….”

Bella shuddered. “Yeah. Not my father, though- Rodolphus. Around my third year? And, again, it wasn’t anything I had done, but he did it as a-” she swallowed thickly- “ _ reminder _ , of who I belonged to.”

Hermione didn’t talk for a while after that, before asking one last question that had been nagging at her. “Did you- I mean, did he ever rape you?”

Bella didn’t answer, and Hermione thought for a moment that maybe she’d fallen asleep and she wouldn’t have to hear the answer, but then she realized that her shoulders were shaking under her, and there was a dampness growing where Bella’s face was pressed into her chest.

“Oh, god, Bella….” She held her tighter, and the quiet crying turned into full blown  _ sobbing _ , and now there was a hand grasping at her hair and she wondered when was the last time Bella had let herself cry.

She woke up the next morning with Bella still pressed up against her, remnants of tears streaking her face but still looking beautiful as ever. She was still sleeping (now that they didn’t have to go to classes, Bella was rarely seen up before 9), and Hermione knew she should probably get up and start her day, but she was rather comfortable and she risked waking Bella up if she moved now. She absentmindedly traced the still visible scars, lost in thought about last night.

Next to her, Bella began to stir. Hermione smiled. “Good morning, beautiful.”

“Hnng.”

“It’s time to get up.”

Bella shook her head vigorously and burrowed herself deeper into her chest. “No. Stay here forever.”

Laughing, Hermione carefully extracted herself from Bella’s grip (not a hard task, seeing as Bella was still half asleep) and got out of bed, ignoring the vehement protests coming from her girlfriend.

As she got dressed, Hermione took the moment to appreciate the fact that she was waking up, in an actual bed (that  _ wasn’t  _ in a tent), next to her girlfriend, who was currently cocooning herself so tightly in the blankets that Hermione doubted if they would ever be able to get her out.

They would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> poor bella :(


End file.
